Leading up to her keynote address, Hootsuite’s EMEA Marketing Director, Merinda Peppard, was asked a few questions about effective engagement and current social media trends within the defence industry.

Merinda will provide strategic guidance on scaling social media across defence and military organisations when the conference returns to London next month in a presentation entitled: Five Considerations for Deploying Social Media Effectively across Defence. The address will gather best practice and case study examples from top defence organisations to provide delegates with a comprehensive understanding of online engagement with community and civilians.

In her current role as Marketing Director, Merinda is responsible for managing integrated marketing programmes to educate businesses on how to unlock the commercial value from social media and has previously held several management positions in marketing, working primarily for digital marketing, SAAS and technology businesses.

When asked about the importance of social media for the defence and military market, Miranda said:

“Social media is changing the way people consume, share and discuss information, perceive organisations and find jobs. The importance of social media will only increase over time as 71% of 18-29 year olds cite the Internet as a main news source according to a Pew Research study in 2013. Future defence leaders must consider the power of social, not be fearful of it.”

“With the changing media landscape and the rise of a global digital world, the military and defence industry is quickly learning that social media is an effective and cost-efficient way to engage with prospective recruits, communicate on and off-base, gather intelligence to steer their strategies and in times help support crisis situations.”

“To engage effectively on social media, defence experts must first listen to their audience, then connect and engage, which is all easily done via social media”

On what she observed as the biggest trend in military social media, she highlighted recruitment into the armed forces as a major driving force for organisations in becoming increasingly sophisticated with online efforts:

“With a finite pool of candidates, brand management and marketing are an important part of armed forces recruiting. Competition exists not only between the different services, but they also compete with the private sector. That’s why their marketing efforts resemble top brand marketing: television, print, radio, not to mention a heavy investment in advertising at colleges and sporting events. Keeping brisk pace with the private sector and top brands, the armed forces have expanded media presence across multiple social media channels. Recruiting branches across the world have aggressively adopted social media techniques – broadcasting and engaging with potential recruits in an effort to grab talented individuals.”

Social Media within the Defence and Military Sector19th & 20th NovemberHoliday Inn Kensington Forum, London UKFollow the event on Twitter at #milsocialmediaSponsored by Echosec

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